For the sake of the children: coping strategies of women in Swaziland's domestic service sector

Abstract

This article examines the coping strategies of domestic workers in the city of Manzini. The Swaziland government has made many efforts to improve the social and economic conditions of the Swazi people after independence in 1968. Yet a failure to recognise domestic work as paid employment has minimised the effect of government policy in improving the lives of women who dominate this sector. The anomalies that it raises as paid housework has meant that conditions in the domestic service sector have changed little since the colonial era. Domestic workers are in practical terms, not protected by legal systems of labour relations. Coupled with other barriers that prohibit their access to land and shelter and dismally low wages, they have adopted many coping strategies in the city to maintain their families and their dignity.